"Having watched it back, there is no intent whatsoever. Joe didn't have a pointed elbow, he is not swinging his arm. He did lead with his arm and it is up alongside the Queen's Park player's head but there was certainly no intention to hurt anybody.

"Hopefully I will sit down with (chief executive) Tony Fitzpatrick on Monday and we will see if it's worth our while appealing, because Joe is a big player for us and we certainly can't afford to lose him for three games."

Saints overcame the 49th-minute sending-off to emerge 1-0 winners at Hampden thanks to Jon Obika's late header, which secured top spot in their group with 10 points from four matches.

Goodwin's side drew with Championship sides Morton and Queen of the South as well as beating Queen's Park and Partick Thistle.

"It's job done as far as I'm concerned," Goodwin said.

"I wasn't over the moon when I saw the draw, I knew how tough the group was going to be.

"People might look at it but Queen's Park and Partick Thistle are two teams that could easily compete in the Championship, two full-time teams, very well-organised, and every game panned out pretty much how I expected it to.

"Obviously, as a Premiership team, you are always expected to wipe the floor with these teams but, having played the game for the length of time I have and having seen some of the shocks in recent weeks, we didn't underestimate anybody, and I'm just delighted we topped the group."